Brianna & Joe's Wedding: June 5, 2015

 Warning this is a long one ;) 

3 months later and I'm finally getting around to getting a post up about my sisters wedding, better late than never right? ;)

Before I start talking about the wedding I wanted to mention Brianna's little bachelorette night that we had! Since Julia, Bri's other sister, and I aren't old enough to drink and since Brianna doesn't care to drink we decided to keep it low key and just go have some fun! We went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and then went over to Funway in Batavia to roller blade indoors and go bowling! It was so much fun and we had WAY too much fun with our selfie sticks. We also surprised Brianna and wore these super cute shirts that have the number of years that we've known the bride! Below are some pictures form that night. 

Now onto the wedding :)

My sister got married on June 5th 2015. Her wedding was in our hometown and it was the perfect location in my opinion. For those of you who don't know my sister, Brianna, she is not the kind of person who wants all of the attention on her, so the wedding was pretty casual and simple (totally her). It was the cutest!

The night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner, the bridal party went and stayed at a hotel in Sycamore, which was so much fun. Brianna, her sister Julia and I all got to share a bed (good thing were all pretty tiny) just like when we were little. In the morning the fun began :) we went straight over to the hair salon, Amanda's Salon & Spa in DeKalb, to start getting ready! They did an amazing job! Everyone loved their hair and makeup and they had bagels and orange juice all ready for us :)

After getting our hair and makeup done it was time to head over to the wedding venue and make sure everything was all set up and ready to go!

Soon all of the groomsmen and groom (Joe) came. It was fun getting to hangout with everyone before the wedding! I don't see Brianna's other two sisters very much, so I really enjoyed getting to spend time with them. They are both such fun sweet girls! I'll never forget, Tessa and I were dancing and being goofy and she says "yeah, you get me!" I died laughing.

The ceremony was short, sweet and too the point! Brianna and Joe each wrote their own vows which I think is such a sweet touch to any wedding. I will never forget seeing Joe's face when my sister walked down the aisle, or my dads. I will also never forget all of my sister's facial expressions, I've never seen her as happy as she was that day, it was so so cute! Even though there had been a chance of rain all week, the day of the wedding had absolutely perfect weather! :)

Now on to the reception, my personal fave. I had so much freaking fun! The wedding was basically only family invited for the most part so it was so fun being able to see everyone! There was plenty of singing and dancing, just as there should be at any wedding! The DJ was awesome and kept everyone on their feet. Austin and I were on the dance floor until at least midnight, he's the perfect wedding date ;)

Brianna, I and the other bridesmaids and her mom made pretty much every decoration for the wedding. I got the honor to make her wedding cake which was so much fun (and nerve racking) and was definitely the most important cake that I have ever made! And it turned out pretty perfect if I do say so myself ;) We also made around 250-300 cookies for the big day FROM SCRATCH and those also turned out perfect. Her desert table was such a cute idea and so yummy.

Enjoy a bunch of pictures :)

Beyond excited for my sister and now brother to be starting their lives together! Well, I guess they have been now for awhile but they still have a long time to go ;) I love you both so so much and am so lucky to have you guys in my life and I was so grateful to be such a big part of your day :)

Nashville, TN

24 hours in Nashville...check

Honestly, we were both kind of disappointed with Nashville. I think we both had too high of expectations for this city. We came to the conclusion that this city is 

A. More fun if you're 21

B. More fun if you're not there on a Sunday

C. More fun if you bring more friends and

D. More fun if you stay closer to downtown 

Broadway (I think) was super run down and smelled really bad hah maybe you wouldn't notice that stuff if it was night time and you had some alcohol in you but we were there at 11am and completely sober, so. 

We only stayed there for about an hour and then had to drive 20 minutes to Hillsboro Village, which is next to Vanderbilt (absolutely gorgeous school, well what we saw of it anyway). It was a cute little strip, the neighborhood reminded us of Champign, IL but a lot more expensive. We found a bookstore that was super creepy and had way too many books but that was about the most exciting thing there. 

We were getting fed up with having to drive everywhere so we decided just to go to the Opry Mill Mall (another 20 minute drive). The mall was huge. We did some shopping, got some coffee and that was the end of that. 

Since we were right there we decided to sneak into (just kidding, you don't have to sneak just walk right in) the Opryland hotel! That was the coolest part of our trip. That hotel is amazing and we're both pissed that we didn't stay there instead. Were considering going back to Nashville when were both 21 just to stay here. It was cool enough that we went here twice in one day, once during the daytime and then we decided it would probably look even better at night time...it did :) All of these pictures are just INSIDE the hotel

We got dinner at the Macaroni Grill because when you're traveling with me, I'm not the most adventurous with new foods ;) but it was so so good.

 

Austin's so cute :) 

After dinner we both decided that our feet hurt and it was time to relax and go to bed. We left semi early the next morning after getting Panera bagels and some starbucks ;)

Panama City Beach, FL

Over the week of august 8^th – the 15^th, my family along with Austin and my brother’s girlfriend, McKenna, went to Panama City Beach! My family has always gone to Florida during the summer but this was our first time to this beach! This was also the first time that we have taken two cars (yes we drive, no its not that bad). Austin and I drove my car (well Austin drove a lot more than me) and my parents, Alec & McKenna were in the other car.

We stayed at the Aquavista hotel (?) (condos) which was right on the beach! We stayed on the 8^th floor on the corner of the building and had a wrap around balcony! Perfect views of the ocean and beach! Our condo was a 3 bedroom along with 2 pull out couches in the living room. It was a pretty nice condo! Nice enough that my mom booked it again for next year the day we got back haha. 

Day 1 Saturday – We got to the beach around lunch time. And just in time to get into a restaurant before the storm came in! We had some absolutely delish wings at Barefoot Bar & Grill. After the storm died down, Austin, Alec, McKenna and I decided to take the scenic route back to the hotel and walk the beach. Back at the condo we got everything unpacked and basically just relaxed for the rest of the night.

While Austin and I were out hunting for koozies, my parents actually got  to watch a nest of sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean! The video that I’m posting is recorded by my dad. 

Day 2 Sunday – I believe this was the day that Alec and Austin met some jelly fish friends (yeah they both got stung but they were fine). We spent the day walking the beach, swimming in the pool and checking out the cool beach houses!

 

Austin has a hobby of saving half dead fish on the beach ;)

Day 3 Monday – This day Alec, McKenna, Austin & myself went on a dolphin jet ski tour! It was so much fun and we actually got to see quite a few dolphin and get pretty close to them. The whole tour had about 8-10 jet skis and two leaders. We stayed with the leaders the whole time but they let us go fast and have some fun! There was also a part of the tour where we pulled our skis up onto an island and walk out into the water. McKenna and I decided to stay on the sand for the most part for this. While everyone was in the water we had a little visit from a shark, disappointed that I didn’t see it. 

Day 4 & 5 Tuesday and Wednesday:  Both of these days we basically just enjoyed relaxing on the beach, walking to the pier and going out to dinner! One night when we went to the pier there were a group of men fishing for sharks which was really cool! They didn't catch anything while we were there but it was really neat to see how crazy big and strong all of their equipment had to be! The same night as the sharks, we decided to dry Nitrofreeze Ice Cream!

 

Alec & McKenna

 

Mom & Dad

 

Day 6 Thursday: Today we decided to rent some tubes and float down a river. I learned Florida rivers are WAY more cleaner than rivers in Illinois, you could see all the way to the bottom for majority of the 4 hour ride. It was pretty fun but 4 hours was a little long I think hah. But the water was the perfect temp for how hot it was out! We all got a little sunburned but thats okay. We found some rope swings along the way but Alec and Austin were the only ones willing to swing off them. We got in at one point of the river and a bus came and dropped off our tubes, then we floated, then the bus was there to pick us all back up to take us back to our car! Crazy that floating for 4 miles took a solid 4 hours

Day 7 Friday: Last day on the beach :( we just spent the day in the pool and on the beach enjoying our last day in the sun :)

On the way home Austin and I made a detour to Nashville! I should have that blog post up tomorrow!

In about 2 weeks were heading to Wisconsin for a relaxing weekend with my grandparents!

 

See ya next year Panama City Beach!